Flying Lightsaber Zapped, Multiple Kill Vehicle Killed

During the previous administration, the Missile Defense Agency was living large. The agency, which helped develop the rudiments of a U.S. missile shield, had a lavish budget; it could afford to invest in a wide spectrum of technology. But next year, it won’t have so many dollars to throw around.

The Department of Defense released the details today of its Fiscal Year 2010 budget request, and the numbers are not surprising. Among other things, the Pentagon wants to take away all funding for the Multiple Kill Vehicle program, an effort to package multiple missile interceptors on a single booster; and it will cancel funding for a second Airborne Laser (pictured), a Boeing 747 outfitted with a missile-zapping chemical laser. It will also limit the total number of ballistic missile interceptors stationed in Alaska and California.

So is the beginning of the lean years for missile defense? Not exactly. The proposed “top line” for the Missile Defense Agency budget is $9.1 billion, a serious chunk of change, even by Pentagon standards. And the administration wants to pour extra funds into theater defenses like the Army’s Terminal High Altitude Air Defense system and the Navy’s Standard Missile-3 and Aegis Ballistic Missile Defense.

The only unresolved question, it seems, is the future of European-based missile shield. The Bush administration pushed hard to get interceptors stationed in Poland along with an X-band radar in the Czech Republic, but it’s unclear how the Obama administration plans follow through. Speaking to reporters today, Pentagon Comptroller Robert Hale noted that the budget includes $50 million for a European interceptor site, plus money left over from Fiscal Year 2009. And suggested that Secretary of Defense Robert Gates, for one, still supported European missile defense.

“We obviously recognize that there are delicate political negotiations going on, but the secretary is adamant that we maintain the resources such that if those negotiations are successful, we can move forward,” he said.

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